friend will show you a marvelous specimen and explain that he or she
owns a half interest in the claim which is sure to turn out at least
half a million..... Then you will perhaps think of Robert Service's
"Spell of the Yukon" and you will understand the enthusiasm and spirit
of optimism.

After all, why should they not be enthusiastic and optimistic? The
whole state is piled high with mountains which look just like the ones
in which so much gold and other valuable minerals have been
discovered; if they are the same on top, why are they not the same
below the surface?

Tell us, you opal colored mountains of Nevada, what stores of precious
treasures are you guarding from the greedy hand of man and how soon
will you throw open another door of your treasure house?

After having lived in the West and visited the mines and talked with
the old-timers, I can easily understand the fascination of prospecting
and mining, and why, in spite of all the hardships it entails, so many
have become enslaved by the spell of it.

The Crystal Saloon, at Virginia City, was built during the days of the
first great boom, and on its register are many names of famous people.
Under the year 1863, I saw written the following: "Clemens, Samuel L.,
Local Editor of Territorial Enterprise..." Mark Twain!

The old-timers will tell you stories about Mark Twain's adventures in
Nevada's mining camps almost as funny as those he himself wrote about
in his book "Roughing It."